Reviews

In the beginning by Michael Farris Smith

cathiedalziel's review

5.0

Introduction to the characters, the story, the storm, the dividing line in Mississippi where anyone who still lives there is left to fend for themselves.

joshrskinner's review

4.0

I read Smith's *The Fighter* and thought it was pretty-to-quite good. This short, however, is incredible. Disorienting and intriguing. I am definitely going to read *Rivers* asap.

hpeerboom's review

4.0

What happens when the affects of Climate Change can no longer be ignored, when the government decides that it's easier to abandon the Gulf Coast than it is to rebuild and repair years of hurricane damage? And what happens to the people left behind? These are the questions Smith forces us to consider in this short prequel to his novel, Rivers. Published in 2014, this story feels oddly prophetic, especially in light of last year's hurricane season. I live not far from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, so I when I read this with my Dystopian fiction students, it hit pretty close to home. Mississippi has long been the whipping boy of the rest of the nation, so it isn't hard to imagine our government abandoning our people and throwing away a part of our state like so much trash, but would it stop there? This is a must read for every coastal resident.